HUGHTON'S CALLS FOR A WIN

Brighton & Hove Albion boss Chris Hughton is calling on his side to end a run of five successive away draws, by winning at Brentford in Saturday's Boxing Day game at Griffin Park (1pm).

The Seagulls boss is delighted with the team's away form, but he wants to begin turning draws into wins, as they seek to move back into second place, and go level on points with leaders Middlesbrough - at least for a couple of hours.

He said, "Mentally we are very focused and even more keen now to get back to winning ways. Wherever you are, you're always looking to pick up three points.

"This division is very difficult to say that is a game we're looking to pick up three points; it is tough and every week you'll see some results that you don't expect, so it's very difficult to be that way.

"But over a period of time, if we want to be challenging then we've got to pick up results that maybe at times we are not expected to and we need to make sure we're always competitive enough to give ourselves a chance to win."

Albion's squad will train at the American Express Elite Performance Centre tomorrow afternoon, before heading to west London overnight.

Saturday's game ends the first half of the season, with Albion facing their 23rd different Championship opponent; and Hughton says his team have made brilliant progress over the course of the past 12 months.

However, he has told them their start counts for nothing in the grader scheme of things, and challenged them to match their form of the first half of the current season.

"From a finishing position last season to where we are at this minute, then we've come a fair way, but we all know that counts for nothing.

"After the Brentford game we will be at the halfway stage of the season. Any team that does well enough to get promotion would at least have to equal what we've done in that first half, and that includes us.

"Yes, we have come a fair way since the end of last season, but there's still a very long way to go and now we are going to have to replicate what we've done in that first half."